Mikaela, Rain, and I working through a piece
John and I are working artists. Really, we are. Today’s blog post is a little peak into this week’s performances for me. This doesn’t count rehearsals, practice time, childcare, making meals, doing other paid work, and more. This week is packed, but at last night’s rehearsal with four artist-women (five of us including me) it all felt worth it. Being a performer is the second best thing to the art-making itself. One of the writer performers, Mari, let us practice in her beautiful home. Rain and Mikaela played and sang. Jenn read heartbreaking poems.
We started like this:
Revelry working through their set list
We ended like this:
Revelry takes a moment to breathe
As a parent-artist, time to just be among other artists is the road to not only sanity, but bliss. Seeing other artists share their craft and vulnerability is what gives me hope in this crazy-ass world. When this group first asked me to join them (thanks, Jenn), I had no idea that we would be connected by grief and laughter and bawdiness and so much tender strength we could move planets.
And the best part? I get to perform with Revelry on Saturday and, then, with my dear friend and activist Ana-Maurine Lara on Sunday (at Open Books!) and with the multi-talented poetic powerhouse Lauren Camp (who I interviewed on Medium) on Monday night. Check it out:
August 26
Revelry: A Night of Storytelling, Strings, & Song (with Jennifer Foreman, Leora Marialicia Gonzalez, Mikaela Schey, and Melissa Rain Hobbs)
7–9pm, Ford Food & Drink, 2505 SE 11th Ave.
August 27
Open Books: Reading with Ana-Maurine Lara
4:30–6pm, Open Books, 2414 North 45th Street, Seattle, WA
August 28
Spare Room Reading Series with Lauren Camp
7–9pm, Passages Bookshop, 1223 NE MLK Blvd., Portland, OR
First stamina. Then, bliss.